Julius Hatofsky

According to the celebrated New York art critic Hilton Kramer:
’’The American artist Julius Hatofsky, (1922–2006) was one of the most accomplished painters of his generation…he remained an independent spirit whose art resembled that of no other living artist. The greatest influence on the work of his maturity was that of the Old Masters—among them Tintoretto, Turner, Blake, Goya, Ryder and Delacroix.’
Julius Hatofsky was born in Ellenville, in upstate New York, in 1922, and first studied art as a teenager in the Works Progress Administration/Federal Art Project (WPA/FAP) art classes. Later he studied at the Art Students League of New York (1946–1950) and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris (1950–1951), returning to New York to study at the Hans Hofmann School in 1952. At the League he studied with Morris Kantor and Robert Beverly Hale.

 Hatofsky had a varied experience beyond the art world. While still a young man he worked as a New York City police officer. Later, in 1942 in World War II, he was drafted into the 82nd Airborne Division, landing by glider in crucial battles. A foot soldier later promoted to sergeant, he served in the Battle of the Bulge and the invasions of the Netherlands and Normandy; later in 1945 he participated in the liberation of a concentration camp.Julius Hatofsky began painting in New York during the 1950s and moved to San Francisco in 1961 to teach at the San Francisco Art Institute, eventually retiring in 1995. According to the critic from Art in America magazine,
 ”During the 1960s, he worked in a Bay Area Abstract Expressionst mode, creating sumptuous, almost iridescent surfaces animated by streams of sinuous energy.”
after 1973, his paintings gradually moved toward American Figurative Expressionism.
”These works often feature obscure, scurrying phantoms painted in a frothy multihued and multilayered oil impasto…Hatofsky’s paintings are sensually generous and richly nuanced.”

 Julius Hatofsky
”for 33 years taught painting and figure drawing to generations of aspiring artists at the San Francisco Art Institute. He befriended many, treating them to a round of drinks and a good cigar at the pub, and inviting hundreds at a time to standing-room-only parties at his 5,600-square-foot SoMa loft. He rented the loft for decades, until the dot-com boom of the mid-1990s pushed him and his wife to a Victorian house in remote Vallejo, the nearest town to San Francisco where he could afford to buy a house.”

 Close to his death Hatofsky wrote:
 ”..Inventing imagery is the basis of my painting. Once involved, I concentrate on scale, inner light, drawing, surface, rhythm, color. Developing these painting concerns has helped to focus my emotional intensity and release my imagination.At age 83, I have a range and variety of expression and imagery and feel a command over the work that has taken over sixty years to acquire. I constantly try to reach deeper, to move beyond my limitations, to challenge myself and to learn.
I feel I’ve made considerable progress in the last 25 years.”
Julius Hatofsky died on January 1, 2006 in Vallejo, California.Wikipedia

Willem L. den Dunnen/Guillaume

 Guillaume is born on the 12th of June 1948 in Hardinxveld, the Netherlands as Willem Lodewijk den Dunnen. He was a student at the Academy Vredeman de Vries in Leeuwarden from 1968 till 1970. Guillaume is a very active painter, since 2012 he mostly has international exhibitions: Malmö in Sweden, Monaco -Art Monaco-, the Louvre in Paris, Studio 26 in New York, Art Fairs in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Rome, Naples, Paris Biennale and Biennale Palermo in Sicily. His work can best described as surreal or magic realistic.Guillaume says "For me, painting is mostly about looking in a different way. I try to achieve that in many ways. Through the use of the material, by using or omitting frames and, of course, by the choice of colours. And then sometimes something so new or surprising   occurs that you don’t want to let it go, you want to preserve it and experience it again. ‘’

 Award winning paintings by Guillaume

Astonishment
Dimensions: 85 x 55 cm.
Painting: professional printing ink and oilpaint combined on pure paperboard.
This painting is exhibited at art gallery ‘’ Studio 26’’ in America, and is shown, after the reviews of the art curators there, in Los Angeles, Miami, etc.
Review from art critic Hans Janstad: ''Real and unreal. Realism, magic and surrealism. There, somewhere, he can be found. It’s a world, where everything is possible or impossible, which fascinates him, and it is an existence in which we can participate.
In the painting Astonishment we surprisingly find a connection with surrealism, with a dreamed, unreal scenery and with true fantasy. This creation belongs to the magic circle of art, it isn’t a dictated set of prescriptions which can’t be ignored, but a ticket to understanding what he experiences. In the paintingAstonishment a hand tries to get hold of the colours of the rainbow. Guillaume tries to bridge the gap with the unknown and, at the same time, with the world of fantasy. He has taken off his heavy, earthbound shoes, and longs to sneak cautiously towards strange grounds. The eye in the painting sees everything from a frogs' perspective.
Guillaume sees his creation as a kind of role play. He is the director who wants to change, to move beacons, to discover paths to the magic world, and even the very moment of birth of art. In Astonishment, he holds the colours of the rainbow in his grasp, and feels the freshness of the rain in his colours.

Dimensions: 100 x 70 cm (passe partout included)
Painting: professional printing ink and oilpaint combined on pure paperboard.
This painting is exhibited at art gallery ‘’Studio 26’’ in New York, USA.
Review from art critic Hans Janstad:
''The colours really speak in the painting Fresh Air. The beach, the sea and the light are united in a personal symbiosis that resembles a junction of Guillaume’s artistic ambitions. The light against the dark sky, the tides creates a feeling of then and now, something lasting, in spite of variations. But much has changed of course, the often returning lighthouse in Guillaume’s paintings help him to navigate correctly, to find his way to himself and to others.''

Tower guard
Dimensions: 100 x 70 cm ( passe partout included)
Painting: professional printing ink and oilpaint combined on pure paperboard.
This painting is exhibited at art gallery ‘’Studio 26’’ in New York, USA.
Review art critic Hans Janstad:''The often returning lighthouse in Guillaume’s paintings help him to navigate correctly, to find his way to himself and to others.''
Review of Stig Ĺke Stĺlnacke, member AICA :
''The beauty of his way of painting lies in the connection with his lyrical inspiration; and just like a Sam Francis or a Jackson Pollock, Guillaume creates his own alphabet, his own signs for this language, which are nothing more than fertile visions of the dream.''

Who's playing chess
Dimensions: 90 x 70 cm
Painting: professional printing ink and oilpaint combined on pure paperboard.
The answer to the question in the title of the painting is not easy to give. Do you play chess with nature or does nature play chess with you? The smoke from the volcano rises and gives animal forms such as those recognizable in the clouds which create a play between brain and imagination. The pattern of the chessboard and the chess game are rational. Just as the falling rocks and eyes. Who’s playing chess?
The painting has been reviewed by curators and exhibited at the Biennale in Palermo. Guillaume was selected as one of the 700 artists from 7000 applications worldwide to participate in this Biennale. After the Biennale this painting will be exhibited at an exposition in Florence.

In control
Dimensions: 70 x 90 cm
Painting: professional printing ink and oilpaint combined on pure paperboard.
Having control over whom or what isn’t clear. Is the game of chess under control? Is there a draw or does the chessboard need to be filled further? A hand lies on the horse’s neck with full confidence. The largest horse head has a dual dimension. It's like the horses observe each other, it is an attitude that radiates control.
During the presentation of the Palma d’Oro in Monaco on 20 september 2014, this painting was reviewed by art critics and awarded with Golden Palm.

Next move
Dimensions: 70 x 90 cm
Painting: professional printing ink and oilpaint combined on pure paperboard.
This painting was exhibited at the Biennale in Palermo and in its catalogue. After the Biennale this painting will be exhibited at an exposition in Florence.
In march/april of 2015, Next move will be published in Breathing Art magazine with a review by Prof. Anna Francesca Biondolillo.
In this game the next move is made quickly, especially when using patterns like in used in a chess game. Draw or victory end the game. The game is played very differently with guidance of the next move, or the surprise of it. Who makes the next move? In the Chinese year numbering, 2014 is the year of the horse. Guillaume has given his attention to this detail.

When fog dissapears
Dimensions: 70 x90 cm
Painting: professional printing ink and oilpaint combined on pure paperboard.
In march/april of 2105, When fog disappears will be published in the Breathing Art magazine with a review of Prof. Anna Francesca Biondolillo.
In the mist, much is drawn from our view and the raising of it creates shadows.
That what we see is it really there? And if we drive through the raising fog we will be surprised, sometimes even frightened. The nature shows itself in its own way. The human brain gives an extra dimension to what we see. What we see is not always correct.
Guillaume wanted to give his attention to the Chinese year numbering, in which 2014 is the year of the horse.

Fieldbouquet
Dimensions: 70 x 100 cm
Painting: professional printing ink and oilpaint combined on pure paperboard.
Fieldbouquet was exhibited in Rome in april 2014, published in the Eferto Arte magazine and awarded a plaque of Leonardo Incontra Canova (pittura - scultura – grafica).The observation of nature is often limited; there is only looked at what flourishes. What should stand out is the consistency of all that lives and goes on in nature.

Al light
Dimensions: 57 x 72 cm
Painting: professional printing ink and oilpaint combined on pure paperboard.
Al light is exhibited in Napels and is reviewed by Prof. Pinto. This painting is one of the reasons to add Guillaume to his encyclopedia which will appear in january/february in 2015. This painting invites you to look closely at all the elements. Guillaume can daydream about it and the painting tells something of a dream. The title of the work can be double explained, It is “already light” and it is also ‘’certain”. Nature has the lead role because it always survives. You will see two hands; one who controls the weather and one that holds a candle. The air clears and gives daylight, the candle pushed/held gives light by insufficient daylight. Only the female candles burn. The flames seem cheerful; they don’t only give light but also heat, and danger lurks in open fire. Nature is in motion; an explosion, smoke, shadows looming in the background. The sun ,although blinded, is also there, clouds are also watching. The hand brings the light; and likes to embrace the feminine aspects.

Abundance
Dimensions: 70 x 100 cm,
Painting: professional printing ink and oilpaint combined on pure paperboard.
This painting is published in the catalogue of Art Fair ‘’Art Monaco’’ of 2013.
Water in abundance: however, this cannot be said everywhere. In our region rain can even bring us to tears, they sometimes are too much to take. The painting connects us easily with the song: “Rain and tears all the same, but in the sun you have to play the game.” Tears too can flow easily as well as being scarce, even to such an extend that they can be seen as costly pearls. Joy gives its own pleasant meaning to tears and to rain: 'Walking in the rain'....
The sun and the moon reflect the times, light and darkness; but rain and tears are not so much bothered by them. They rather belong to a world of perceptions and meaningfulness.

Follow the money
Dimensions: 70 x 90 cm (passe partout included)
Painting: professional printing ink and oil paint combined on pure paperboard.
In December 2014, Follow the money was awarded the Biennial Paris award at the Hotel Banke in Paris, France.
This painting, like the other works of Guillaume, can be best described as surreal or magic realistic. For this painting, Guillaume used a few symbols; the dragon, the fish, coins and the dog. For Guillaume painting is mostly about looking in a different way, which he tries to achieve in a variety of ways; by the use of the material, by using or omitting frames and, of course, by the choice of colours.
And then sometimes something so new or surprising occurs that you don’t want to let it go, you want to preserve it and experience it again.

Painting & Sculpture

Friedrich von Bömches

Friedrich Ritter Bömches von Boor (27 December 1916 – 2 May 2010)  was a German painter, graphic artist and photographer.
Friedrich von Bömches has been highly successful in sublimating his bitter experiences with war and captivity. He took up this artistic transformation using the medium of photography: during the Stalingrad campaign von Bömches created a lot of photographs (most of which have additional documentary value).

Not allowed to engage in this art throughout his captivity, von Bömches compensated by resorting to drawing. To date, von Bömches has produced again and again his famous Sekundenskizzen ("instant sketches") - he admitted to be suffering from a "hysterical pencil addiction". Nonetheless, a large portion of his post-release works deal with the tragedy of human existence, death (including his heralds that age and decay), hunger und persecution - to some extent in biblical or mythological moods. In "trapping" the living through the contemplation of such seeming opposites as Life and Death, he provides equal motifs: masterly portraits thanks to an outstanding power of observation, as well as many "little" pictures, most of them extempore, with animal and other themes.

The German connoisseur and patron of arts Peter Ludwig (1925–1996) referred to von Bömches as the "probably greatest portraitist of the present".
Between 1950 and 1974, he created some fifteen thousand works. None of them were taken out of Romania. The number of his creations in Germany probably reaches a similar number, including his portraits of notable persons (more than five hundred in number.Wikipedia

John Altoon

John Altoon was an influential avant-garde American artist of his time who dominated the art scene of 1950s and ‘60s Los Angeles. Most of his works came under abstract expressionism, the first true artistic movement that emerged out of America. He rose to prominence as a part of a group of artists referred to as the ‘Ferus Group’ because of their association with the Ferus Gallery. This group included artists like Edward Keinholtz, Robert Irwin, Ed Ruscha, Ed Moses and Larry Bell among others. A highly popular figure in all his circles, this boisterous painter was a very passionate individual whose personality left a far greater legacy than his artistic works. By the end of his thirties, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and he was only 43 when he passed away following a massive heart attack. This marked the tragic end to the life of a lively, boozing, skirt-chasing man harried by bouts of depression and episodes of mania that was often destructive and violent.

John Altoon was born to immigrant American parents in Los Angeles, California.Not much information is available on his parents, early education and early life. However, certain records suggest that Altoon had a fairly creative childhood. From 1947-1950, in a period of 4 years, Altoon underwent formal training in art in three different institutes: Otis Art Institute, Art Center College of Design and Chouinard Art Institute. Beginning as an abstract expressionist, he turned to figurative works by the 60’s. These works were characterized by skillful draftsmanship and sexual imagery. His art was also shaped by his visit to Europe where he stayed in Spain for some time. He also served in the US Navy during WW II.

 

Altoon’s work was primordially influenced by “Abstract expressionism”, although he is best celebrated for his figurative works. His work has been described as a mish-mash of “vaguely figurative, botanical and biological forms.” A man of “outsized personality and reckless intensity” the influence of John Altoon loomed large over the L.A. art scene during the 1950 and ‘60s. Rebellious, romantic, ambitious and slightly mad, Altoon’s painting oozed with mischievous humor and intellectual rigor (.thefamouspeople.com)

Hedda Sterne

Hedda Sterne (born Hedwig Lindenberg; August 4, 1910 – April 8, 2011)[1] was an artist best remembered as the only woman in a famous photograph of a group of Abstract Expressionists known as "The Irascibles" which consisted of Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, and others. In her artistic endeavors she created a body of work known for exhibiting a stubborn independence from styles and trends, including Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism, with which she is often associated.Sterne has been almost completely overlooked in art historical narratives of the post-war American art scene. At the time of her death, possibly the last surviving artist of the first generation of the New York School, Hedda Sterne viewed her widely varied works more as in flux than as definitive statements. Wikipedia

 Hedda Sterne was a prolific artist whose independent approach to painting and drawing provides insight into our evolving understanding of the history of modern art. Born in Bucharest, Romania, Sterne began her formal artistic education in Vienna in the 1920s, and in Paris in the 1930s, where she exhibited with the Surrealists. Following her emigration to the United States in 1941, she became an active member of the New York School. Sterne’s work has been shown in more than 40 solo exhibitions, many at the Betty Parsons Gallery, and more than 70 group exhibitions in museums and galleries in the U.S. and abroad. Throughout her eight-decade-long career, Sterne’s artistic practice was a path of discovery in which her prolific oeuvre would defy any single categorization. She once said, “I use my work to delve into the deep questions of existence. My life is a work of art.”  Hedda Sterne’s varied and fluid styles reflect this artistic philosophy of “flux,” and distinguish Sterne as a unique figure in the history of 20th century art.(The Hedda Sterne Foundation)

Hedda Sterne was a key participant in influential movements of 20th-century art, including European Surrealism and the New York School. However, throughout her long career, Sterne was unconcerned with finding a signature style in her artistic practice. Unique among her contemporaries, Sterne chose to explore various techniques and sources of inspiration. The following select artworks represent various periods and themes from seven decades.
   “Hedda was always searching, never satisfied. She had many ways; most artists just have one way to go.”
    – Betty Parsons(The Hedda Sterne Foundation)